An independent Scotland could be forced to rely heavily on UK intelligence to judge whether or not to go to war, academics have warned.
First Minister Alex Salmond has suggested that after a Yes vote Scotland would require a parliamentary vote to ever enter a conflict again.
But researchers at Edinburgh University have warned that an independent Scotland will have to work closely with the UK's intelligence agencies, without any real powers to hold them to account.
The SNP leader has accused the last Labour government of taking the UK to war in Iraq on the false premise of weapons of mass destruction using a "dodgy" dossier of intelligence.
The new report warns: "An independent Scotland is likely to work closely with the UK's existing security and intelligence agencies (despite whatever the UK Government has said about this in the referendum campaign). Given the difference in size and capability between a newly independent Scotland and the remaining UK, it may be difficult for Scottish MSPs to hold the intelligence agencies of the UK to account in their interactions with Scotland."
"[It] would be in no-one's interests for any gaps or weaknesses to appear in the intelligence and security capabilities of our shared island. Yet the UK intelligence agencies would not answer to a Scottish oversight committee, leaving it to rely on the assurances of Scottish ministers about the nature of intelligence and security cooperation between the two countries."
The report suggests that the current Scottish Parliament as it is shaped is not designed for the task.
"The Scottish Parliament is too small, too controlled by the executive, under-resourced, and lacking in intelligence and security expertise", the academics warn.
Dr Andrew Neal one of the authors of the report, said: "This is not an argument for September 18, 2014, but for the day after a possible Yes vote, when the work would really begin."
The Scottish Government's white paper proposes to set up a single security and intelligence agency for Scotland on independence. The paper also states that the Scottish Parliament will continue to have 129 members.
The academics found that an independent Scotland's single intelligence agency working with the police would be simpler to oversee than the agencies of the UK that report to different ministries.
They found that "the existing UK intelligence and security apparatus is likely to take a close interest and proactive role in the development of an independent Scottish system".
The report adds: "It would be in no-one's interests for any gaps or weaknesses to appear in the intelligence and security capabilities of our shared island."
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